Williams.] MEEK AND WORT LIEN. 161 



The name " Kinderhook group " was proposed by Messrs. Meek and 

 Worthen in 18GI in the course of a discussion on the geological posi- 

 tions of the Gkmiatite beds of Kockford, Indiana. 1 Its original applica- 

 tion was to the rocks between the top of the Black slate and the base 

 of the Burlington limestone as seen at Kinderhook, Pike County, Illi- 

 nois. In the present report Mr. Worthen further delined the group, 

 and defended its refereuce to the Carboniferous. 2 He defined it as in- 

 cluding " the Chouteau limestone, the Lithographic limestoue. and the 

 Vermicular sandstone and shales of the Missouri Report, the so-called 

 * Chemung rocks 7 of the Iowa Report, that part of the ' Waverly sand- 

 stone 7 of Ohio which overlies the Black slate of that region, and the 

 *Goniatite limestone 7 of Indiana." 3 



This group, the " Kinderhook," was traced into Indiana, where it is 

 represented by grit stone and arenaceous deposits, and is regarded as 

 the only division of the Subcarboniferous in northwestern Indiana and 

 in northern Ohio, where it constitutes all the so-called " Waverly sand- 

 stone." The Kinderhook group of Worthen constituted the lowest 

 member of the Carboniferous system of the upper Mississippi province. 



Mr. Worthen correlated " a series of dark blue, green, or chocolate 

 colored shales, passing locally into a black bituminous shale," of west- 

 ern and southern Illinois with the " Black slate " of Tennessee and other 

 States in the interior. 4 Certain Devonian limestones were recognized im- 

 mediately underlying it, and from this fact and the presence of Lingula 

 spatulata he correlated it further with the Genesee slate of New York. 

 In that part of the State it is followed by the Kinderhook group. In 

 the northern part of the State, however, in Rock Island County, the 

 author reported the Black slate and the Subcarboniferous limestone 

 series absent, the Coal Measures resting unconformably upon the Devo- 

 nian limestones, which were correlated with the Corniferous limestone 

 of New York by their fossils. 5 



In the southern part of the State a sandstone was observed which 

 Mr. Worthen identified with the Oriskany sandstone of New York. 

 This was first observed in the neighborhood of Jonesborough, Union 

 County, Illinois. 6 



In the second volume, published in 1866, slight changes were made 

 in the classification and nomenclature. The introduction was by 

 Messrs. Meek and Worthen. 



The classification preferred is as follows : 7 



Feet. 

 ( Upper.. Carboniferous period. Coal Measures, Millstone 



I Grit 1,200 



'Chester group 800 



Lower.. Mountain limestone or 



Carboniferous 

 Bystom 



St. Louis beds 200 



, Keokuk group 150 



riod ° 6rOU8 ^ Burlin S ton S rou P 200 



t Kinderhook group 150 



1 Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 33, p. 228. »Ibid., p. 109. • Ibid., p. 121. 'Geol. Surv. HI., vol. 2, p. vm. 



'Ibid., pp. 108-118. «Ibid., p. 119. • Ibid., p. 124, 



Bull. 80 11 



